No, Finnish court has not cancelled six-year prison sentence of Biafra separatist Simon Ekpa
IN SHORT: On 1 September 2025, a Finnish court sentenced Biafra separatist Simon Ekpa to six years in prison on terrorism charges. The claim that the court has cancelled his sentence and set him free is false.
Finland-based Biafra separatist Simon Ekpa has been released from prison just days after being sentenced to six years on terrorism charges. That's according to a video doing the rounds on Facebook since early September 2025.
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Its caption reads: "BREAKING_Simon_Ekpa_WALKS_FREE_as_Court_CANCELS_6-Year_Jail_Sentence_Nigeria_GOVERNMENT_PANIC."
In the 20-minute video, the narrator speaks in a mix of English and Igbo, the language predominantly spoken in Nigeria's southeastern region.
The video was first posted by the Facebook page Biafra Tv News, which has over 173,000 followers.
The page posts updates on efforts to restore Biafra, a region in southeastern Nigeria, whose secession in 1967 led to a 30-month civil war. In January 1970 when the war ended, the region was reintegrated into Nigeria.
Ekpa, once known as the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, claims to be the prime minister of the Biafra Republic Government in Exile.
He was arrested in November 2024 and charged with terrorism for inciting violence against security agents in south-east Nigeria.
Finland's Päijät-Häme district court found Ekpa guilty of various crimes, including equipping armed groups in southeastern Nigeria with weapons and explosives. On 1 September 2025, the court sentenced him to six years in prison.
The claim also appears here, here and here. (Note: See more instances at the end of this report.)
Has the Finnish court cancelled Ekpa's six-year sentence and released him? We checked.
No evidence to support this
Despite announcing that the court had cancelled the sentence and released Ekpa, the narrator said Ekpa's lawyer would likely appeal the sentence and overturn it. This is a red flag.
Local and international media reported Ekpa's sentencing. The media also reported that the Nigerian government might seek Ekpa's repatriation after the six-year jail term.
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If the Finnish court cancelled the sentence, it would be a major development and would have been widely reported too. But we found no reports relating to the cancellation of this verdict.
There is no evidence to support the claim that the Finnish court has cancelled Ekpa's sentence of six years in prison.
The same claim was found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
